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1993 – Customer Service Model

SCI’s dedication to quality and customer service quickly set it apart from other logistics companies.

SCI’s top-notch service included working with customers to custom-build warehouses.

From day one, Prologis legacy company Security Capital Industrial Trust (SCI) committed itself to changing the relationship between building owners and clients—focusing as much on the needs of customers as on the buildings and warehouses they were occupying.

During a meeting early in the company’s history, SCI co-founder Robert Watson stressed the importance of language. “We’re not going to use the words ‘landlords’ and ‘tenants’ anymore,” he announced. “We’re going to be ‘owners serving customers.’” To reinforce the idea, a penalty bucket was created. Anyone who let the words “landlord” or “tenant” slip was obliged to make a donation to the jar.

From its headquarters in the Denver metro area, the company created a strict division between its sales and property management divisions. Market officers were charged with making leases, finding buildings to buy and working with the brokerage community, while a dedicated property management team—nicknamed “the nurturers”—focused exclusively on meeting the needs of the clients, from simplifying the move-in process for new tenants to ensuring the parking lot was devoid of potholes.

“At that time, property managers weren’t asked to do much more than enforce the lease and ensure the building was still standing. We believed that bar was being set too low,” Watson said. “If you call us and have a problem, we’re not going to open the door and pull out your lease agreement and look and see what clause 38C said. We’re going to say, ‘How can we help you?’ And to that extent we also had maintenance staff—uniformed maintenance staff—in a clean and nice vehicle driving around checking the properties. Nobody else had that.”

To increase the business SCI conducted with its largest clients, the company developed a standardized lease form that was used throughout the United States. The company also kept the corporate structure small so it could assign familiar faces to valued clients and develop long-term relationships.

As the company grew larger, it added a development component, constructing buildings for lease on a speculative basis. SCI could build industrial spaces in a short period of time—often in less than a year—for much less capital than an office building or retail mall. These projects allowed SCI to test the market and gain invaluable experience in development. In time, SCI was working with its largest clients on build-to-suit contracts, creating industrial space to meet their specific needs and growth objectives.

“What I tried to instill in our folks in the field was a sense of ownership,” said Bud Lyons, lead independent director of Prologis. “It’s a matter of execution, and clearly part of that execution is this feeling that it’s your property, and you’re personally responsible for that capital that we deployed in that marketplace.”